The breathing of particulate matter presents a myriad of potential health problems. The breathing of hazardous or contaminated particulate matter exacerbates these problems. It has been recognized that asbestos fibers, long utilized in the construction industry, presents certain health dangers and in recent years, massive projects have been commenced to remove asbestos insulation, asbestos ceilings and the like from buildings, ships and other facilities where it was utilized in the construction.
The removal of asbestos fibers is subject to various Federal and State regulations regarding the segregation of the area in which the work is to be performed, the collection, removal and disposal of the asbestos fibers. It is preferable when performing the collection and removal of this particulate contamination that the entire enclosed area, such as a room or floor of a building, or a warehouse, be isolated from the ambient atmosphere. Protective coverings normally consisting of multi-layers of polyethylene film are secured to the interior of the walls and airlocks are utilized for individuals operating the removal apparatus with respect to the ingress and egress from the enclosed area.
Normally, the asbestos is collected and large pieces are ground up to a more desirable size for disposal with the entire amount of asbestos being collected under negative pressure or vacuum pressure into a container which meets the Federal and State regulation guidelines.
It is oftentimes required to maintain the interior of the room or floor which is being decontaminated, under negative pressure to prevent the egress of asbestos fibers into the ambient, surrounding atmosphere. This negative pressure would work in conjunction with the interior lining of the walls to prevent this escape of asbestos fibers. Attention has been given to providing a protective area for the cleaning of asbestos fibers and preventing their migration to the ambient atmosphere (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,604,111 to Natale).
Oftentimes, it is necessary to decontaminate large areas while at the same time permitting normal operations to occur in these areas. In such instances, these areas are divided in an appropriate manner with a temporary wall erected from floor to ceiling, this wall having secured thereon, the appropriate layers of protective material, such as layers of polyethylene. Thus, particulate contamination removal can occur on one side of the wall while simultaneously, normal business activities are conducted on the opposing side of the wall. Upon completion and decontamination of one area, the normal business activities would be transferred to the decontaminated portion of the room or floor and cleaning would commence on the opposing contaminated portion of the room.
The walls constructed for the aforesaid decontamination process may be of solid material such as a frame with plywood having polyethylene secured thereto or merely just a frame having multi-layers of polyethylene secured thereto. Nevertheless, the need to decontaminate a room by this method is less desirable than having the total evacuation of the room or floor. Therefore, in order to provide additional assurance that there will be to migration of asbestos fibers from the area being decontaminated to the area in which normal business activities are being conducted and to provide a degree of assurance and safety to those individuals conducting the normal business activities while decontamination occurs immediately adjacent them, the Applicant has developed a double wall system which provides an additional barrier to the migration of asbestos fibers, the design of which would have application to the sequential cleaning and decontamination of large areas as discussed, or to the cleaning and decontamination of smaller areas.